NASCAR released a statement Wednesday explaining why Ryan Newman wasn’t fined for his critical comments Sunday at Talladega, but a NASCAR spokesman also made it clear that the sanctioning body was not happy with Newman’s outburst and accusations.

Newman was livid after being involved in a multicar crash in which Kurt Busch’s rolling car landed on the hood of his car.

Newman, who has been involved in several violent wrecks in restrictor-plate races, directed his vitriol toward NASCAR and restrictor-plate racing.

“They can build safer racecars, they can build safer walls, but they can’t get their heads out of their asses far enough to keep them on the race track and that’s pretty disappointing, and I wanted to make sure I get that point across," he said. “You all can figure out who ‘they’ is.

“That’s no way to end a race. Just poor judgment. You got what you wanted. Poor judgment. Running in the dark, running in the rain."

NASCAR stirred up controversy earlier this year for fining Denny Hamlin $25,000 for making negative comments about the new Gen-6 car and the quality of racing at Phoenix. NASCAR officials said then that drivers could criticize judgment calls by the sanctioning body but could not disparage the sport by criticizing the product on the track.

“We disagree with the comments that he made,” NASCAR Spokesman Kerry Tharp said. “He wasn’t critical of the racing product so therein lies the decision not to fine him.”

But Tharp also said that Newman’s comments pushed the limits of what NASCAR will allow.

“We did tell them they could challenge NASCAR, they could challenge the racing calls, certain calls that we made and that type of thing," Tharp told reporters. “We did tell them a couple of years back, hey, don’t take on the racing product, don’t disparage the racing.

“We believe (Newman) kind of pushed the edge on that in his comments. We disagree with his opinion. We disagree with the comments he made but he wasn’t critical of the racing, he wasn’t critical of the racing product, so therein lies the decision not to fine him. We don’t agree with what he said, I’ll tell you that right now."

Newman has been fined in the past for making similar comments about restrictor-plate racing.